The eLearning Center for the eLearning Centre

Overview

Using modern technology has allowed for more efficiency in the search and drilling for oil and gas. Today, more resources are found using fewer wells and at the same time are drilled deeper and faster than ever before while encountering fewer dry holes.

A few of the technologies used today that have made drilling less costly with a higher success rate and at the same time reducing environmental impacts include the following:

  · Horizontal and directional drilling
  · Multilateral drilling
  · Polycrystalline Diamond Compact (PDC) drill bits
  · Synthetic drilling muds
  · Measurement-While-Drilling (MWD) technology

In this course, the student will review the sections and fact sheets covering drilling and completions from the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Fossil Energy's publication "Environmental Benefits of Advanced Oil and Gas Exploration and Production". This course is most relevant to engineers wishing to attain knowledge on several of the advanced technologies used today in oil and gas drilling and well completion.

The student must take a multiple-choice quiz consisting of twenty (20) questions at the end of the course to obtain PDH credits.

Specific Knowledge or Skill Attained

This course teaches the following specific knowledge and skills:

  · Latest advances in drilling bits and drilling muds
  · Horizontal, directional, and multilateral drilling techniques
  · Hydraulic and CO2-sand fracturing techniques used to stimulate production of declining formations
  · The environmental and economic benefits of coiled tubing relative to drilling pipe
  · Measurement-While-Drilling technology used to measure downhole and formation parameters to allow more efficient, safer and more accurate drilling

State Board Acceptance

This course can be used by professional engineers to fulfill PDH requirements mandated by state and provincial licensing boards. Decatur Professional Development is an approved provider of continuing education in all states that pre-approve course providers. In all other states that mandate continuing education for engineers, it is the individual engineer's responsibility to determine the suitability of activities for PDH credit. The state boards typically accept online* courses that cover technical, managerial** or ethical content and which are relevant to the practice of engineering. The course must have a clear purpose or objective with a content that will maintain, improve or expand the skills and knowledge of the licensee's field of practice. For questions about your mandatory PDH requirements, visit the website of your state licensing board.

*Online courses are accepted by all state licensing boards that mandate continuing education. Other than New York (which limits online courses to 18 PDH) and Iowa (which limits online courses to 6 PDH), there are no limits placed by other states on the number of hours that can be earned through online continuing education. Consult with your state licensing board if you have any questions about the acceptability of online courses.

**The New York State Board of Engineers does not accept general office management courses, but will accept project management courses that are offered by an approved provider and that are technical in nature and contribute to the engineer's professional practice.

Please Note: Continuing Education credits for this course are awarded as PDH (Professional Development Hour Credits).